Head of Finance at WindBorne Systems

WindBorne Systems is supercharging weather models with a unique proprietary data source: a global constellation of next-generation smart weather balloons targeting the most critical atmospheric data. We design, manufacture, and operate our own flight hardware and sensors, using the data collected to generate otherwise unattainable weather intelligence.

Our mission is to eliminate weather uncertainty and to help humanity adapt to climate change. We are building a future in which the planet is instrumented by thousands of our balloons, eliminating gaps in our understanding of the planet and giving people the information they need to make critical decisions. The founding team of Stanford engineers was named Forbes 2019 30 under 30 and is backed by top tier investors including Khosla Ventures and Footwork VC.

As Head of Finance, you will play a critical role in building the foundation and strategy behind our financial operations, working closely with the CEO and Chief of Staff. This role is ideal for someone who cares about our mission and wants to have a big impact as the first full-time finance hire. 

WindBorne operates in a complex and exciting environment for accounting and financial planning.  We produce hundreds of balloons monthly and manage thousands of parts across subsidiaries on three continents. Our diverse customer base includes government, commercial, and philanthropic organizations. As we scale, managing capital expenditures becomes more critical. 

You will be responsible for building out our financial operations and practices, with a focus on  speed and efficiency. We currently outsource some accounting work and will bring more in-house over time. As the company grows, this role will evolve, with the opportunity to take on more responsibility across G&A functions. 

We're committed to advancing technology to help humanity adapt to climate change quickly. Joining our mission offers a chance to make a significant global societal impact. If you're excited about working with cutting-edge technology and a dynamic team, WindBorne is your destination.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Manage core accounting operations, including A/R and A/P, and the month-end close.

• Prepare and present budget vs actuals variance analysis on a monthly basis.

• Maintain and update the company’s financial forecast, including revenue forecasting and detailed COGS projections as we scale out our balloon constellation.

• Ensure our financial systems are set up to accommodate future growth and to make the necessary investments to upgrade when appropriate.

• Integrate inventory systems with finance operations, ensuring reliability and consistency.

• Reporting and metrics: support partner with the Chief of Staff to work on OKRs and to develop standardized reporting for business and financial metrics.

• Global operations: build the processes and reporting to manage launch sites across multiple continents.

• Review customer contracts across government, commercial, and philanthropic sectors.

• Implement and manage regulatory and compliance protocols, partially driven by government customers.

• Manage relationships with banks, auditors, and tax authorities.

• Hire, lead and develop a high-integrity finance and accounting team.

Skills and Qualifications

Required

• Proven track record as a Finance Lead, CFO or equivalent leadership role at an early-stage startup.

• Experience with scaling a manufacturing/hardware business and the necessary infrastructure and process investments

• Experience selling into a government and non-profit client base with the associated accounting, regulatory and tax issues, e.g. DCAA compliance.

• Expert knowledge of US GAAP and technical accounting. 

• Demonstrate strong project management and ability to identify, analyze, offer solutions and execute solutions on tax and accounting problems.

• Experience evolving processes, controls and systems to support a growth stage company; specifically QuickBooks and manufacturing ERP software. 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills to effectively interact with management and cross-functional teams, asynchronously online and in person; ability to explain complex or technical accounting and finance issues to non-finance team members. 

• Strong personal integrity and the highest ethical standards.

Nice to Have

• Experience in International Business Law – beneficial for managing international legal and regulatory compliance.

• Experience in managing other company functions such as HR or Legal

• Direct deep tech, manufacturing and supply-chain experience

• Experience in leading transition to new ERP software such as NetSuite

This Job is for You if You: 

• Thrive in a startup culture; comfortable navigating fast-paced environment, excited about taking the lead to build up strong, efficient financial functions.

• Excited to build up a financial and accounting system across a full-stack business with both hardware and software offerings. 

• Seamlessly navigate across different teams and functions to simplify and centralize financial processes in a full-stack hard-tech startup. 

• Are able to both jump into the weeds (navigating financial tools and systems) and deliver insights and work with the executive team. 

• Learn fast, ask questions, and adapt quickly.

• Never let anything slip — you're all about detail and foresight.

Salary 

• We are considering a range of backgrounds and experience levels for this position and adjust our offers accordingly to be competitive with market rates.

Location

Address: 858 San Antonio Rd, Palo Alto, CA

In person preferred